BaconLanguageTomato: Sharpen up your Mandarin the Farber way

Let's face it, it's pretty hard to go past a language app that takes its name from a classic sandwich, so BaconLanguageTomato had to be investigated further.it turns out that what could have been mistaken for something served up for breakfast or lunch at O'Doule's in San Francisco, turns out to be a very smart and neat looking app that asks if you are hungry to speak the Mandarin Chinese language. It's a virtual Mandarin dictionary with an unusual slant that puts into practice a technique made famous by former US radio host Barry Farber.

Farber was a native of Baltimore, Maryland and, after nearly failing Latin in the ninth grade, started reading a Mandarin Chinese language-learning book. A trip to Miami Beach, Florida to see his grandparents put him in the midst of a large number of Chinese navy sailors in training there and his Chinese rapidly improved. When he got back home he took up Italian, Spanish, and French on his own before the summer vacation was over. At the height of his career he had knowledge of more than 25 languages and, in the early nineties, he published a book titled How to Learn Any Language that details his method for self-study. This web app helps you learn to speak and read Mandarin Chinese by putting into practice a technique used by Farber. It makes it easy to look up every word that you don't know as well as giving you hints when you have come across the word before.

BaconLanguageTomato is a great little tool to fine tune your Mandarin Chinese and adopts a learning pattern that has proven successful in the past. As you may know, the cornerstone to good pronunciation for Mandarin Chinese is the four tones - high and level, rising, falling and rising and falling - and these should be mastered to ensure the meaning of the word is correct. With Mandarin becoming one of the most spoken languages in the world and with China's rise to prominence on the world business stage it can only be a good idea for everyone from children to adults to think about taking it on as a second or third language. BLT is an easy to use and free app that will make it even easier to conquer.